An Officer's Honor
by Chargon
Summary: Little SaGa fic I made after renting the game (had it for 3 years now and love it to death) once... Rated PG-13 for some language and 'violence' (Haw.)


An Officer's Honor  
Author: Kyle Shaezer [Chargon]  
'Fuse', 'Blue', 'SaGa Frontier' and all related are ©1997, 1998 Square Co. Ltd. All rights reserved.  
--  
A little fanfic I whipped up around June '98 when I rented SaGa Frontier and died horribly several times trying to complete the Shield Card quest... Fuse was such a nifty character, and I really wished he had more development. So here we are, delving into the mind of Fuse as the group climbs Mosperiburg to -- what else -- find those flowers.  
--  
  
Another day at the Inter-Regional Police Office. Or IRPO, if you'd prefer to call it that.   
Me? My name's Fuse. I'm a patrolman for the IRPO.   
There wasn't much to this job; walk around a set course, make sure there's no trouble, then have a 10-minute break at the restaurant in Manhattan. Simple, wasn't it?   
If you only knew.   
  
"Please wait in the lobby," the receptionist instructed. She pointed at a large room to her left.   
"Thanks," replied the blond-haired magician. He and several others entered the lobby.   
"Mr. Fuse, please enter the lobby. You have visitors who are asking about the Shield Card," the receptionist announced over the PA system. I looked up from my paperwork with utter disgust. shaking my head slowly, I looked back down to the small disaster zone that was my desk.   
'Again?' I thought, 'That's the tenth one this month.' I didn't want to do this, but I had to. Not that it mattered: the small tower of papers casting an ominous shadow over myself was just as much hell. Rising from the tattered chair of mine, I walked half-heartedly to the lobby.   
As I entered the lobby, I saw the kid's wild blond hair and blue robe, and my head immediately relayed the word 'magician'. Also in the lobby was a Mystic, who looked like either some kind of scientist or a computer nerd who hadn't seen sunlight in years, a drunk laying on the floor, two swords clipped to his belt and a bottle of beer in his hand, a blue-haired kid with a fez and lute which he was happily strumming on, and two Mecs, one of which looked like a tank, the other... I couldn't quite say for sure.   
"There will be no alcohol here," I snatched away the bottle of beer the swordsman was drinking and attempted to toss it into the proper receptacle. As I figured would happen, it missed, smashing against the floor and sending glass and fermented liquid everywhere. But what the hell did I care, I was a patrolman, not a janitor. I turned to the magician, who apparently was the leader of this rather ragtag bunch, "So, you want the Shield Card?" The magician simply nodded, his eyes locked on mine the entire time. "It seems like everyone's asking for it these days. I can't just hand it to you."   
"Then what do you want us to do?" asked the magician. His blank gaze was starting to creep me out a bit.   
"I need a bit of help with my patrol. Come with me to Mosperiburg. I'll explain on the way." 'Stop looking at me, stop looking at me...'  
The magician looked away from me and hesitated for a moment. 'Thank God...' When the boy turned his head to me, he gave another affirmative nod.   
"Good. We leave in half an hour."   
  
So here we were: Mosperiburg. That damned mountain I hated so much, but I had a job to do. Fuck. "There's a flower I want, at the top of this mountain. If I get it, you get the card, deal?" I extended my arm. The magician looked at it as if it had grown a head.   
"...Deal," the boy, who I came to know as Blue over conversation in the ship coming here, took my hand and gave it a surprisingly firm pump. I nodded in response.   
"There seems to be some sort of constant atmospheric change," beeped out the vaguely-humanoid Mec, T620G. Even though I knew they were a bit worried, everybody appeared indifferent. I, however, gave a slight cough; I was the only one who truly knew what was at the top of this mountain. Maybe I should have told them about it... There's still a chance, why don't I--   
"Lesh juss get the damn flow--er!" the swordsman, Gen, interrupted. I gave an exasperated sigh. He was drinking the entire way here, and I doubted his usefulness greatly, though I paid no mind to him, and motioned for everybody to follow me up the mountain.   
'There used to be tons of monsters around here, but strangely there were none today... Were they afraid of these people? No...' I thought, 'That's not possible. Just... just... well, LOOK AT THEM! '  
After a few minutes of hiking along the trail, we came to a small cave. Though the entrance was decently-sized, it was impossible to see inside. I shuddered at the thought of what was in there: two powerful dragons that could probably give God a run for his money. Snapping me back to reality was the morbid-sounding voice of the Mystic, Nusakan.   
"What's in here?" he inquired. He began to enter slowly, drawing the knife at his belt. As he was too far in the cave already to save both himself and me physically, I did the only thing I could: yell.   
"DON'T!" I shouted frantically. Too late. By the time I finished my single word, Nusakan barreled out of the cave, followed by a large blast of flame, which melted most of the snow and exposed the barren ground to atmosphere. Everybody ran from the cave, not wanting to face the wrath of what was inside. Once we had stopped, I shouted at Nusakan in a near fury, "There's dragons in there, you idiot! Powerful ones! You could have got us killed, you stupid bastard!" I went on for a good five minutes, chastising Nusakan and pretty much rewording the first four sentences over and over again. Not sure why I did it, but I did; It wasn't his fault I didn't tell him about it beforehand.   
"Ish dat wut we came heer to kill?" Gen attempted to ask, breaking up the 'monologue'. T260 was holding him up, as if the slightest breeze would send him tumbling down the mountain. Given his condition, it most likely would have.   
Still in my private rage, I grabbed the liquor bottle the wasted swordsman was holding and hurled it down the mountain. "NO!" I crossed my arms and got a stern expression on my face, as to feign anger, but what I was really doing was waiting with interest for the bottle to crash against the rocks. I soon got my wish, hearing the snap of glass and tinkling in the distance. Happily enough, I turned and began to hike upwards.  
"Jeesh, wut a groush..." T260 helped turn Gen around, and we were climbing the mountain again.   
  
"Here we are... The top." I turned to the group, and spread my arms out, probably looking for all the world like some sort of game show host. I half-expected Blue's little party to 'ooh' and 'aah'. Gen, as I actually DID expect to do so, did.   
"Current temperature is 70 degrees Fahrenheit," T260 announced in his mechanical voice. I winced as the anticlimax reared its ugly head.   
Fez-boy was shocked at that. "How can that be? We were freezing not more than 10 minutes ago!"   
"Can we go now?" I interrupted. I didn't want to be up here any longer than I had to, "If you want the Arcane gift, you better get your ass up there."   
"All right, All right... Don't get so pushy," Blue replied sharply. Turning, I led them upward.   
When we had reached the top, I saw them. Those beautiful flowers, just waiting for me. Blue walked up to the shimmering plant and observed it for a few seconds.   
"This must be the flower," he commented rather stupidly. As soon as he had finished that sentence, it came.   
With a loud screech, Su-Zaku the phoenix dived straight at us.   
"What the hell?! Fuse, you never told us about THIS!!" Dr. Nusakan shouted. His white face, previously calm and ominous, was now contorted into an expression signaling a mix of fear, anger, and utter confusion.   
"Shut up and fight! If you want to survive, that is!" I leveled my Hand Blaster at the fire bird, then pulled the trigger. A powerful beam of concentrated energy flew straight at Su-Zaku, connecting with its eye. The bird dropped like a rock.   
"What the?" Blue was somewhat surprised, "That was it?" He bent down closer to examine the bird, only seconds before it awoke again. Dread overcame me; no matter how strong the boy's magic was, nobody could survive the phoenix's flame for long. I ran as fast as I possibly could at him and dived, pushing Blue out of the way just before Su-Zaku exhaled a large burst of flame. If this was heroism, I think I'd pass on the next chance.   
With a loud screech, the bird soared into the sky, a majestic bolt of orange and red. However, knowing that Su-Zaku would kill us all if given the chance, I aimed the Hand Blaster again, hoping to God for the one precious moment I desired. "NOW!"   
The others understood immediately. Gen, in spite of the incredible level of alcohol he consumed, had apparently sobered up and expertly jumped in the air, releasing a bolt of fluorescent-green energy from his sword and slamming into the bird the second Lute's same energy bolt did. Su-Zaku, obviously injured, still came at us, looking more or less like a small meteor burning up in the atmosphere. A good shot from T260 had fazed it a bit however, giving me the chance to lay into it with my Hand Blaster. Blue just looked on, strangely; I knew he had magic, why wasn't he using it?   
Suddenly, it hit me. He wants to finish it off.   
Not more than 5 seconds afterward, the firebird gave a loud screech and fell to the ground, stunned by another of Gen's sword's energy bolts. I turned to Blue, "If you're gonna kill it, do it now!"   
"Fine," he pulled out a card, chanted a few words, and threw it into the air a bit haphazardly. The next thing I saw were three swords materializing out of nowhere and burying themselves deep into Su-Zaku. The bird simply disappeared in an impressive flash of fire and smoke. "There we go."  
I dropped the Hand Blaster, almost mortified. Even though the bird was nearly the bane of my existence, I didn't think it deserved a fate like THAT. After several weeks of nearly killing me, it gets killed itself by some apathetic magic user. I turned away from the magician, almost too sick to even look at him.   
Hurriedly, I collected a bouquet of the rainbow-colored flowers, then headed back down the mountain. Blue was calm the entire way down. I probably would have killed him, but something in my heart said 'No'. Either that or the fact that I didn't want to lose my job.   
  
Once we had returned to the IRPO, I led the group like mice to the lobby. I turned, forcing myself to look at the magician. "Well, Blue, here you are; the Shield Card." With a feigned expression of approval, I took the card out of my pocket and handed it to Blue. He simply took it, nodded, and left along with the rest of his group. As I watched them leave, something drove me to follow.  
  
"Last shuttle to Koorong departing in seven minutes!" the clerk announced.   
"One more card to go," Lute sighed, "Then it's off to face your brother." Blue winced. He didn't want to hear about Rouge right now.   
I entered the room and slammed my ID card on the desk. The entrance had forced a few gasps from various people.   
"What the--? Fuse?" Blue just stared at me. I growled in the back of my mind.   
"Yeah... It's me."   
"Why are you here?" Nusakan asked. His face was just as solemn as the muderer-slash-magician's.   
"...Well..."   
"Well what?"   
"...Well, I guess you could call it honor," I spilled out, "When I saw Blue kill the phoenix, I was in a rage. Not even Su-Zaku deserved kind of death." Blue looked at me blankly. "But when you left with the Shield Card, I realized that it was the only thing he could do. And because of that, I felt like I owed you guys a favor for being so angry about it. And here's the favor: I'm going with you." There. I put down the proverbial foot.   
"...Fine. If that's what you want, then you can come with us. Besides, I've never seen anyone so skilled with a gun," Blue said, smiling.   
I smiled too. Not sure why, I just did.  
I guess you could call it satisfaction. 


End file.
